The Hozgura
by PuddlejumperOZ
Summary: A setting of SG1 sometime in the distant future, just a few years away
1. Chapter 1

**The Hozgura**

Before the dawn of the his elevation to System Lord, then outcast, Sokar found a human civilisation on the outer fringe of the Galaxy, ripe for invasion and submission to his will. His fleet surrounded the planet and at first found little or no resistance. He was after slaves, concubines and perhaps new blood for his Jaffa, with a Queen at his side, all could be accomplished swiftly.

His Hat'aks and Al-Kesh landed without opposition and his First Prime reported many villages had virtually surrendered as soon as the first shots were fired. These people were primitive he told his Lord, carrying little more than swords, bows and spears. He only omission in Ra'ul's report, was that there were very few males in the villages, and those that were, old men and very young boys.

Sokar and his Queen Salisa, made a lavish encampment on a hill over looking the valley he learned form the locals was named in their dialect, the Vale of Sorrow, he scoffed and told them it would be named anew. It seemed there was some sort of suspicion attached to the name. In the first days of being there, he could see nothing but fertile lands tended by an agricultural society. Already he and Salisa had picked some wonderful candidates for symbiotes and young boys who would be made to accept the Jaffa rites. The unsettling thing of these humans, even for the two Goa'uld Lords, was the body self maiming. It wasn't just the odd pieces of metal piercings as Sokar had seen on some worlds, this was at best in his mind grotesque, Salisa could not even look at them and bid her Lord she retire to their Warship. Sokar thought it best as well and with his personal guard, the Goa'uld Queen left the encampment with a small procession down into the valley and out toward the grassy fields where the fleet had landed only days before. Something in her mind worried her as she swayed in the litter carried by eight of her own male slaves. Her female attendants close behind.

Machag looked at he scene below from the back of his horse, his tribal symbols hung from various parts of his body. Bone, metal. His muscled brown frame was essentially covered except where he needed to mate with his wives. The strangers had come in ships of the heavens, not the first, but the first in his lifetime. The wreckage of previous visits lay beneath the warm soil of the Vale of Sorrow. These fools were of the same making of that in his great-fathers time, they never left and neither will these. He lifted a gloved hand, a thunder grew behind him and not long after, twenty five thousand men and women of the Horde were assembled across the tops of the foothills.

Salisa felt it first, her Goa'uld senses attuned to her surroundings. It started as a slow cadence, like distant drums, she pulled back the curtain of her litter and saw only a great dust plume coming from the tops of the foothills, the sun's glare taking away any clear view of what it might be. Nearer to the stationary ships of Sokar's fleet, Jaffa and slaves alike went about their business setting up and arranging the immediate area for a long term stay. Oblivious to anything else, the rumble of far away thunder a minor distraction.

From his solitary position on the hill Sokar saw the first wave of the black horde descend upon the valley, like a swarm of locusts, it devoured everything in it's path. He screamed in mental agony as he witnessed his Queen's cortege' obliterated like ripe corn. A few staff blasts gave a semblance of defence, some of the horseman went down, but not enough. There were simply too many. When it had ended, he saw only the trampled corpses of his army, his Queen's litter a smashed wreckage. Not a single one of his ships had managed to launch, the savages had ridden their beasts right into the bowels of each and every vessel. He was now alone to face what may come, as he saw a group break away and ride in his direction, he lifted a staff weapon, ready to give whatever ever punishment he could, to avenge his beloved Queen. His hand quivered in echo of his rage, as his fingers tightened within the metal of his ribbon device.

With one hand held out before him, the staff weapon in the crook of his other arm, the Goa'uld stood there with defiance, he would not and could not cower to these beasts of the plains. A single rider broke away from the group and came at Sokar at the trot. He bore himself with dignity despite his savage bearing. He reined in a few paces short of running down the robed man and with fluid motions dismounted. Arms on his hips, he bellowed a hearty laugh.

Machag, for all his beastly heritage and customs, was not a fool. He knew that the hordes were doomed if they could not change, they had scoured the continent for eons, ravaged every other tribe and absorbed them. But they had grown too large, the land could no longer sustain them.

"Lower your weapon fool. We will not harm you, though you would not last a winds breath if you tried so much to sneeze. I offer you a bargain."

Sokar looked at the savage human. "You offer _**me **_a bargain?" His eyes glowed and he held his hand out, a shot of energy unseen, sent Machag's horse screaming and tumbling back down the hill.

"Impressive, I know what you are. I do not fear you." He lifted his hand. From the backs of his fellow's horses, bows sprang into quick hands, short shafts strung and with a quivering hiss, two dozen arrow heads struck the earth at Sokar's feet, surrounding him, most not more than a hand span from him. Machag spoke again. "You cannot leave, but we need to. This is my bargain. You will lead us from here in time, myself I may not live to see it. You will teach us the ways of the great sky ships and all we should know. Then after that time has passed, we will release you from the bargain, alone, free to go your way."

Sokar perhaps for the first time since he took host, was bewildered, these butchers could have ended him there and then, but chose not to for their own sake. A tool he had, a new army maybe for a while. The memory of what he had, was now dust. He spat on the ground. "So be it. I will lead you from this place unto the stars. The plunder of this part of the galaxy shall be yours." He knew his won enemies would not tolerate his return so soon. "But, journey into the inner reaches of this galaxy at your and my death, there are many of my kin, who would not parley even if the face of doom looked them in the eye."

"So be it then, you will live. For now." Machag smiled evilly, his teeth sharpened to points, made him appear an agent of the seven hells.

* * *

**The Horde**

A thousand of Sokar's Earth years had passed, neither a captive nor exactly free. Only the sarcophagus kept him within some semblance of what he was. Over time he had taken on a new persona, taken in some of the savagery of his captors. They in turn, over generations began to see him in a more 'God' like way, which suited Sokar's purpose. But cut off from his origins, he began to grow restless. He longed for the battle of wits with his brethren. He had taught the Horde all he could. They, with him had burnt a trail of terror across the outer rim, never though venturing near the Goa'uld claims. Between him and his fleet, those many thousands who were it's life and crew, they had conquered worlds never seen by the Goa'uld. Absorbed cultures and technologies to a point where the ships were no longer Hat'aks, or Al-kesh. Save for a very few of the last, the fleet of the Horde was now unique in it's own kind, great black apparitions built in the style and configuration of many conquered civilisations.

The time had come. Sokar met with his chieftains and told them the time of the bargain had ended. Shaytan he had become to them, "The devil spawned" in their tongue. He had done more than any goa'uld would ever do for mere humans, but these were now special. He had twisted them into devoted followers, he had altered their genetic code along the way, to give them longer life. Tired of having to retrain a new 'First Prime' every eighty years or so, they were now, though not Jaffa, something closer and perhaps even better, as their loyalties would not change in defeat as Jaffa would. They would give their lives relentlessly in pursuit of victory.

Grudgingly they let him go and kept the bargain of their forefathers. He left with a final warning, never to cross that invisible line, that separated vast territories from that of the Goa'uld System Lords.

* * *

**2025- PF6-993, Deep Space tracking Station. Epsilon-3**

Chief Petty Officer Alice McKenna had pulled some all-nighters before, but this had been one of the worst. He companion Marine Sergeant John Mcoy, though also of Scot's heritage like herself, had a different upbringing. While Alice had come from an ultra conservative Presbyterian background in Alberta, Canada and had served with the SGC for the last ten years, joining a group of somewhat born again Christians, bent on spreading the gospel throughout the galaxy; John was your typical Marine. A gambler, foul mouthed and thought himself a bit of a lady's man. All sixteen hours of the shift, brought about because two others had come down with Praxyn flu, she spent trying to block out his bawdy jokes and equally sordid tales of his conquests.

Finally to get a moments respite Alice lifted her long frame out of her chair and told John she was going for a private break, he made some off handed obscene remark and went back to checking his instruments and monitors. Something was wrong, here they were on the furthest limits of Tauri controlled space, desolate empty and void, save for a few barren rocks like this one, code named 'Hell's Corner'. There shouldn't be and never is anything out here, yet he was looking at a large formation of ships heading in their direction, a long way out, but nonetheless they were there.

"Ah...Chief, ya might wanna hold off changing your Tampons." He said dryly.

That was enough, Alice had enough, she rounded on him and shouted almost in his ear. "You never bloody let up do you John?" She looked at the screen. "What the..."

Alice jumped back into her own seat and set the scanners to doppler x-ray. "Holy crap." She felt her spine go numb. "They are showing up like Goa'uld technology, but their silhouettes are completely off, more like Wraith Mother ships. Get Killman on the line."

"The lieutenant? Chief he's been up twice as long as us,."

"I don't care get him." She focused on her work, sweat pouring down her face.

John hit the coms buttons hard, the monotone buzz rang in his earpiece for sometime. "Killman, if that is you Alice, I'll have your hide girl." The rough voice said.

"No sir, it's Mcoy sir. We have a delta sir, hot."

"Bullsh*t, here?"

"Yes sir, about fifty or more very, very large ships and escorts, bravo Epsilon quadrant, five days."

"I'm on my way."

* * *

**Heliopolis Gate Ro****om**

"Incoming worm hole, it's Ishta's IDC sir." The control room tech called out.

"Open the iris corporal."

Moments later a tall older flaxen hair commander came through the gate, attired completely in what could only be described as extremely well fitting black leathers, torn and dirty, sweat and blood ran across the top of her breasts, but obviously not her own. She ran down the ramp and up the stairs, Admiral Ben MacGregor, second fleet commander almost knocked her down as he went to meet her.

"Ishta...you look, well." He said unsure of himself.

She pressed close to him. "Ben MacGregor, you look like your father, but I did not come to exchange pleasantries."

"Yeah, I can see, what happened?"

"Four of our far rim mining outposts are gone, my ship barely escaped when we went to investigate a lack of weekly reports. Ten thousand or more settlers, Jaffa and Tauri both, either dead or gone. Those dead, had been roasted alive and many eaten. We..." tear formed in the corner of her eyes. "We began the funeral rites when one of their horrid scout ships returned, they targeted the gate first, then started firing on my two Cruisers. The Joran we lost, I and my group barely made it back to the Brat'ac..."

Ben placed his arm around her. "C'mon, let's go into Ikagura's office.

"No there is no time. You must order your way stations and outposts on the rim to abandon now, they will take out the gates first...Ben they are coming this way. We estimate they will be in this system in less than five months."

"In that case, wait here. I'll notify Joe and you and I will take a little trip, I have a three four o' on standby, we'll be in Sol sector in no time."

Ben pressed his station coms "This is Admiral MacGregor, all gate travel is suspended, lock the iris until further notice." He moved over to a terminal and typed a long message for General Ikagura, to be forwarded to General Carter and the SGC. "Come on Ishta, we'll have a change of clothing for you onboard."

_**To Be Continued...at some time**_

**Edited, compiled and assisted by all the wonderful co-writers and team at Gateworld Virtual Fleet 4.0**


	2. Chapter 2

**Earth, war is at the doorstep.**

Two great ships belonging to the United forces of Earth floated in the void of space a little beyond the halfway point between the blue-green planet and it's Moon. The UEFS Hammond, now a little older but well proven and 'New Ship' Olympus, one of Earth's larger and more capable battleship platform, not long out of work up trials, the BB320 was a magnificent sight. Fighters flew CAP's around both ships, it was almost as if they were waiting for something to happen. A transport beam exchanged between the two ships, someone from the Olympus had found their way over to the smaller ship.

Sam walked along the long passage from the hangar deck to the first elevator that would take her above to one deck and the bridge. It was Cassandra's birthday and she and Jack were supposed to be there, to celebrate a special day with family. Cassie herself had to cancel as she was doing surgery at the Air Force academy hospital not far from Cheyenne mountain. The young woman, now in her middle thirties had taken over where her first 'Earth' mother had begun, as CMO of Stargate Command. Sam looked at her watch, touching the face twice, gave her not only the time, but the day, date, year and ambient temperature. Friday, December the sixth 2024. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and Sam always trusted her instincts.

The soft soles her boots tapped out a hushed cadence on the deck, Sam counted the lines of the separate panels as she moved forward. It was good to be back on the Hammond, once her old command, but this was just a routine visit during work up exercises, nothing more, but as much as she loved the old girl it was no longer hers and hadn't been hers for a number of years. That fell to another and Sam's home ship for this rotation was aboard the Olympus.

Minutes later she emerged on the bridge to see her old protégé Jennifer Hailey as Captain of the Hammond sitting contemplatively in her command seat. The Colonel swung around when she heard the elevator door open. She stood and met Sam face to face, a brief hug was exchanged and Jennifer as usual got straight to the point. "General," She said respectfully, "…we have intel from our perimeter stations, the Alliance are attacking several stations in our sector, reports indicate they are attempting data mining and theft of heavy equipment."

"Hello Sam how are you, I'm fine Jen, how are you?" Sam said with a little friendly sarcasm, then stepped back and looked at the younger woman's eyes, there was a hint of desperation there, her words were not in jest. "Why weren't we informed earlier Jen?" Sam said as her brow creased into worried lines.

"Sector stations have been bombed, we've lost four already, coms are not coming through. We only received this moments before the last one shut down." The Hammond's commander reported. "I've since notified Admiral MacGregor, he's giving you fleet command as of now, he'll be trying to coordinate a response from our allies.

"Fat chance of that." Sam replied. "Alright, give me a fleet wide broadcast."

One of Hailey's tech staff adjusted his subspace communication array, in less than a heartbeat, he nodded to his Captain and Fleet Commander simultaneously.

Sam made doubly sure her voice was clear and calm, all emotion stripped from her voice, even though she positively wanted to scream. "All ships, this is General Samantha Carter. Make ready for full deployment, this is not a drill. I repeat, make ready for full deployment. Deadly force is authorised. Once you receive your assignments, make best speed. Prioritise ships attempting to escape, they may be carrying information vital to the defence of Earth." That was not a message she wanted to send on her first inspection tour, Sam had a very bad feeling about today.

The next forty minutes were nerve wracking. Nearly a fifth of the fleet had delayed departure, a '_feeling'_ of Sam's being the only justification given or needed.

"Captain…," a systems officer called to Hailey.

"Yes lieutenant?" Jen was now in her command chair, Sam had taken a position behind her arms behind her back, standing, ready to lend a hand where necessary.

"Ma'am, we're getting a high hyper-space activity off to our starboard beam, fifty thousand metres."

"Our own ships? Back already?"

"I don't believe so Captain, they read like Ha'tak."

"Ha'tak? But the Jaffa wouldn't..."

Jennifer swung around and looked at Sam, her eyes were hard and focused. "General, I think while there is time, you should rejoin the Olympus."

"No, Jen. Crichton is a fine officer and Captain, I'll only be in his way. Besides our systems allow me to patch in broadcasts fleet-wide. " Sam lifted her long plait off her shoulder and flung it back. She had a serious thought of cutting it off again. A fleeting thought, she erased it as quickly as it came to her. "I can coordinate from here." Silently she prayed they would prevail.

Not more than five minutes passed when the general alarm sounded throughout Earth's home fleet. Only good fortune and Sam's suspicion had kept any capital ships back.

* * *

Earth, the Blue Marble; on the ground it is easy to think the planet is endless and invulnerably large. From space the true is apparent; Earth is a tiny speck of dust easily lost in the endless expanse of stars and galaxies. Looking down on it in these last moments of peace Sam was filled with a sudden and powerful urge to protect the planet, as if she could take the whole world in her arms and keep it safe from harm.

The situation did not make that an easy proposition. Five Ha'tak, still at extreme range began to open fire on Earth. At that range they shouldn't have been able to hit anything accurately. Their Staff Cannons, inaccurate even in the hands of an experienced gunner were simply not able to target with any kind of accuracy at a range of four light seconds.

So far away, past the moons orbit, the Ha'tak were invisible. Sam watched the sensor readouts, her heart tight with fear. While they may not have any kind of accuracy each shoot had the potential to kill hundreds, no thousands of people. Time seemed to slow as each bolt of fire became visible.

She knew she gave the order to intercept the shots. She was certain she said it. But for some reason she couldn't hear herself. The sound of her beating heart drowned it out. She knew, the part of her that was still completely rational and calculating, that they couldn't reach them in time, not all of them.

The first of the enemy blasts reached the atmosphere, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. _"The atmosphere __attenuating the plasma.__"_ That rational part of her mind interrupted. It gave her no comfort; even with some lose each shot was the equivalent of a nuclear warhead.

When the first blast hit there was a universal in drawing of breath on the bridge. When the expected bright, piercing flash of explosion was replaced by the shimmering of shields the strange time distortion abruptly ended Sam was aware of someone speaking.

"...All confirmed hits were on military installations and vital structures. Shields are holding for all facilities."

Jen was the first to speak as the bridge shook from collision with the first intercepted Staff Cannon blast. "Order the defence platforms to engage. Why isn't the drone chair firing? Move us to engage with the enemy."

"The Hatak are out of drone range, orbital platforms all reply inability to establish a lock at this distance. We are..."

Sam interrupted, "Tell the platforms to prepare to receive targeting information. Begin transmitting the fleet's CBM (Composite Battle space Map) on an encrypted subspace channel."

Weapons and Sensor control both looked at her questioningly. It hit her that this kind of thing had never come up before. Both snapped back to their duty as they realized who it was giving the order.

"Sometimes I wonder why you didn't take that job as head of Area 51." Jen said as both women continued to watch out the bridge window at the unerringly accurate stream of blasts and the first glimpse of the Ha'tak.

"Jen, take command for a sec, something's not right." Sam said quickly.

Jennifer was about to speak up but the Ha'tak were in weapons range. She was all action and gave her orders like the Fleet commander she would one day be, "Launch fighters, break the fleet into two groups and concentrate fire on their engines. Are we receiving confirmation from the orbital platforms of weapon's lock?"

"Aye ma'am, missiles are away and rail-gun batteries have opened fire. We have their targeting solutions and so will be able to avoid them friendly fire."

While Jen gave her orders, which had been transmitted to the rest of the fleet, Sam watched the battle grasping for what she was missing. Blue and Red squadrons launched anti-ship missiles and the Ha'tak shields flared up as the hits scored.

"Order the 340's back to Earth," she yelled, "...have the orbital platforms re-target their sensors to the planet. Tell them to look for cloaked ships. Have the chair begin destroying targets as soon as they are identified." Hope, hope was all they had right now, sweat beaded down Jennifer's face, creases of worry furrowed her brow.

The 340s were at first a little sluggish to break away from the battle. While they accelerated at full speed the Ha'tak firing pattern changed. Sam, still in full command mode called for a status report.

"They are targeting our orbital platforms Jen. Shields are holding, but thrusters are unable to keep them in a stable orbit. Thirteen cloaked cargo ships have been destroyed and four Alkesh. However, the Alkesh have started bombing runs and pulling out." The reports were coming in as fast as the action played out before them. Sam read each transcript as it flowed across the screen in front of her.

"Damn them. What about the Ha'tak, are their shields weakening?" Jennifer was now soaked to her underwear. She never felt so much adrenalin in her entire life and she had been in some very bad situation before this. This was just so wrong she felt.

"We can't be sure Colonel, but they are down at least..." One voice reached her ears.

As if to insult to the Tau'ri defenders the Ha'tak all released a few more full power salvoes and hyper-spaced out.

Several on the bridge exhaled. Sam was too wound up to relax just yet. "What's the damage?"

"Reports are still coming in General Carter. Several dams have been destroyed; Hoover, Three Gorges, and several dozen others. UCET, the US East Coast, China Southern Power Grid, and more than a dozen other major power grids are down. Extensive flooding in the Murray river, they've hit a major dam there. Damage in urban areas is remarkably light. And... Oh my God..."

Both Jen and Sam replied at once, "What!"

"UNE headquarters was destroyed. As was the bunker underneath. Three orbital stations fell on it, the shields just couldn't take it."

A palpable silence descended on the bridge. With the finality of death the list went on.

"Reports from Scoria, Lyria, Velon, Antlia... all of them report Lucian Alliance attacks. Most of our major shipyards have received moderate damage and will be out of commission for a month at least. Civilian casualties are slightly more than fifty thousand across all planets. Property damage in excess of five trillion. Seven ships lost, three with all hands..."

"Stop," That was Sam, "please, just stop right there. This is a bad situation and it could have been a lot worse. What's important is that we are still here. We are still alive and we will keep fighting. We will..."

Sam was interrupted by a priority transmission from Earth. It was being relayed, but the people of high command had had deemed it important enough to pass along.

"_Citizens of the Tau'ri heed my words._

_For ten thousand years the Goa'uld ruled these stars. For ten thousand years the humans of this galaxy suffered under their lash. While your planet has lain free of them we endured slavery and oppression on a scale you cannot imagine._

_While we lived consigned to misery and toil you were blessed. The Asgard named your planet protected. Yet where was our protector. The Ancestors left you their legacy, but where is our inheritance._

_Like children fresh from the cradle you blundered about this galaxy certain of your superiority and your right to do so. With weapons beyond your understanding and against forces beyond your ken you have us brought time and again to the edge of a knife._

_We say Enough! We deserve to live free of the Goa'uld and we deserve to live free of you!_

_We will stand by no longer while work to fill the vacuum of power you yourselves created. We will not trade one tyrant for another and we will yield to you no longer._

_Find some other place to carry out your conquest and to fight your petty wars. We are not your playthings to be favoured at your whim and thrown away when it suites you._

_Citizens of the Tau'ri heed me,_

_We are the Lucian Alliance. We are the rightful government of the free worlds. We are the rightful heirs of this galaxy. And we will take what is ours."_

_

* * *

_

The briefing room was silent. It brought back a lot of memories for Sam; the mission debriefings, the mission proposals, those wonder years of her life when SG-1 went boldly into the unknown trying to find whatever was out there. Logically, those years had been horrible, the constant threat of the Goa'uld, or Anubis, or the Ori and the constant struggle against the IOA would have drive some insane. It had driven some insane...

The furniture and the people may have changed, but in some sense, the room hadn't. Steeling herself she stood and began her grisly presentation.

"I won't get into the thousands dead or billions in damage. Those logs in front of you report it much more concisely then I could. Bad as all that is, that is not our biggest problem."

No one said anything at that. Later, when she gave much the same presentation to the newly designated UNE Security Council she couldn't expect that luxury.

"The Lucian Alliance has changed a lot from the crime syndicate it used to be. Major changes in the make-up of the leading members have combined with a change in focus. The LA now styles itself a sovereign governing entity. They haven't begun to do many of the things we would expect a government to do, mostly stockpiling ships and weapons. Compared to the previous situation though, some of the unaligned planets find the thought of security to appealing to pass up."

She took another calming breath and carried on. The gist of her speech was nearly over.

"What the LA has done, besides temporarily cripple almost every major utility on our colonies, is buy themselves time. They know they couldn't win a war with us, not now at least. With our fleets pulled back to defend our main colonies our remote outposts are abandoned.

While it might originally have been a pretext; reports have confirmed that the LA is going out of their way to steal everything possible from these outposts. Additionally, the Tokra have been able to provide data on several Goa'uld shipyards which have been slowly brought up to full production over the last few years.

We don't know how they did it, but the LA is involved in a massive modernization and expansion program. If we do nothing we may very well find ourselves dragged into a full scale war."

One of the Admirals, one of the new batch of leaders who had gone out for the space-fleet instead of starting in the Air Force, spoke up. "So what do you propose we do General?"

Sam's reply was powerful in its simplicity, "We take the fight to them."

* * *

One week later, Sam arrived at Admiral William MacGregor's office in the new UNE headquarters, deep underground. Jack O'Niell, her husband was there as well. Both men wore more than grim faces.

"Sam?" Jack said, his age etched face showed just how much anxiety had crept in.

She almost shed a tear as she explained. "We've another lost seven ships, forty fighters and five Scorpions." Sam paused, the memory carved into her brain. "Two thousand people Jack, two thousand..." Her eyes filled as she asked the inevitable. "... is there any news of the civilian casualties?"

Jack placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. But couldn't answer her, Will MacGregor stood near on the other side. "You really don't need to know Sam, but I can say it's a damned lot, and millions left homeless as well. This has been bad for us and our allies. The Alliance have hit us hard this time." He sat back down and read a few vid files, his brow creased into worry lines.

"We've heard from the other colonies as well, while they defeated the Lucian Alliance in some quarters, our damned fleet was almost reduced by half. Jack swallowed hard, this was getting to him as he slammed his fist on the table "Sam, Will, that makes the total losses for the fleets are eight 340's, six 304's, plus the auxillary craft and over four thousand personnel. I am more than pissed Sam, this should never have happened." He looked tired and haggard, he shot a look over at the Admiral. "Will you got nothin' to say?"

"They cracked us hard Jack, very hard."

"You said that."

"I know, I'm thinking. Sam, have you spoken to Ben or Joe Ikagura?"

Sam brightened a little "Ben no, he's taken the Avalon out to Heliopolis with half a squadron of 401's. Joe Ilkagura recommends we send the Olympus armed with a Mark nine to one of their bases that Hayden scouted a week ago."

Jack sat up straight. "Ben MacGregor did what? Christ he's worse than you Will. What does he think he'll achieve out there? The Alliance haven't been in that sector have they?"

"Not quite Jack, but while Ben was there Ishta turned up. I intercepted a message meant for Sam. It seems the LA are not the only player in the mix. But more of that later. I do think Joe's plan has merit though." He drummed a beat on the table. "Get the Olympus prepped Sam, launch in twenty minutes if possible. It might take about six hours or so to arrive."

Jack added "Drop out above their planet, target their power core, deploy the missile and jump out. So we should know the result in maybe twelve hours."

Sam stood and crossed her arms " So.." She began. "...the batle with the Lucian Alliance has begun in earnest. If and when you hear of my success, you both should announce the declaration of war to the media."

"Agreed. Oh and Sam, that other player I mentioned. Be bloody careful. According to Ishta, they have started on the outer rim relay stations and one of the Free Jaffa worlds. The sketchy detail Ben sent, only mentions their fleet…it is more than the LA could ever muster in a very long time." Will said as he stood to bid her farewell.

"Great, that's all we need, more enemies!" Jack left his chair and held his wife close. "Be careful Sam, that's all I ask of you."

"I will be." She hugged and shook hands with William and clicked on her coms "Carter here, I'm ready." In a white flash of the Asgard beam she was gone. Jack and Will stood there looking at that vacant spot for a few moments until Will spoke at last.

"I hope to god we're doing the right thing Jack."

"You and me both Will…."

_**Story concept by DavidTorniquet of Gateworld. Story written by PuddlejumperOz and Exthalion**_


End file.
